Oribe Hair Care Atelier: Cool Styles, Hands-On Learning, Thoughtful Philosophy

Oribe understands hair is more than a career—it’s an art form. To further that point, Oribe’s team of cut, color and styling experts are traveling the country for the Oribe Hair Care Atelier series of intimate workshops that allow attendees get up close and personal with leading stylists, try out the Oribe product line and get hands-on technical training along the way. BTC stopped by the Chicago leg of the tour located at the scenic Zhou B. Art Center—after all, there’s no better place to learn about the art of hair than an art gallery! And trust us when we say we learned a lot by what we saw!

“We look at education as a multi-spoked wheel,” says Co-President of Oribe Hair Care Daniel Kaner. “So as far as education goes, more is more. We have to fill our collective beaker.”

Our day began with demonstrations guided entirely by the current muses and inspirations of the Oribe team. Attendees watched as Oribe stylists created an entire spectrum of color, cut and styles—from avant-garde lilac color, to Mia Farrow’s The Great Gatsby look, to Sharon Tate’s socialite volume, Rita Hayworth-esque pin-curled extravagance, a men's cut and a super-coiffed updo, we saw it all.

“They’re popular looks that can be kind of intimidating, but there’s no right and no wrong,” Daniel says. “It’s an overview of what we do. It’s a kind of controlled lunacy.”

Yet with Oribe, the goal is greater than showing off super-cool looks. The atelier is also about giving each stylist a platform for spreading his or her philosophy toward hair through the lens of Oribe products.

Oribe Creative Director of Styling Ronnie Stam's background is heavily editorial—he's worked with elites of the model world like Cindy Crawfold, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell; he's also toured with the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith—yet he hopes to help stylists break out of the intimidating nature of editorial hair and bring it into the salon environment with the help of Oribe products.

“My message with Oribe is to be a better hairdresser. To be more open. Oribe gives us a chance to do that,” Ronnie says. “The power you have in the hair. It’s amazing. It’s Oribe.”

Wella Professionals Top Stylist Alexandra Matiz explored the world of Oribe’s color collection and the Wella Trend Vision collection, finding the intersection at which the two worlds collide for totally wearable, client-friendly looks. At the atelier, she took Wella’s Celeste trend and created an all-over soft lavender color with hints of silver. And Creative Director of Cutting Tom Gallagher created a Great Gatsby-era bob and Dandy-inspired men’s cut, emphasizing weight distribution as a key cutting strategy.

Oribe’s “no right, no wrong” approach carried through to the hands-on portion of the day, which gave every participant the chance to recreate the morning’s looks on a live model—no mannequin heads allowed.

“I think it’s amazing they have live models,” Alexandra says. “Every model has a different line of growth, everybody learns differently and everybody’s look is different. You have to adapt.”

In addition to learning a broad spectrum of looks in a stylist-friendly way, Daniel says the ateliers are the perfect opportunity to teach the world about Oribe products, which he says were created with a different goal than other product lines.

“These products are complicated,” Daniel says. “Some products are created to teach consumers how to use them, and we took a completely different approach than that. In some cases, they do require some training. They’re very concentrated.”

Or, in other instances, names can be deceiving. When explaining Oribe Gel Serum, Tommy jokes it’s an oxymoron, “It’s like ‘gay sports bar,’” he says. But actually, Oribe Gel Serum is a product that transforms for your needs, like much of the Oribe line. “If you put it in the hair when dry, it’s going to lean toward high-quality gel with serum aspects. If you apply it when wet, it’ll lean toward serum.”

Yet product knowledge was only part of the goal of the Oribe Hair Care Atelier. To Daniel, the greater mission is to encourage stylists everywhere to develop his or her own voice in the industry.

“The artist at some point needs to develop a signature,” Daniel says. “We need to develop our own voice. That’s what we’re trying to do, and I think Oribe is a beacon.”

For more information about the Oribe Hair Care Atelier, call 201.290.6225.

See more pictures from the event in our Facebook album!

TELL US: What kinds of classes do you love to attend and why?

Join Us for BTC's First-Ever COLOR Education Event 
Miami | October 7-8, 2012
Nearly 20 of the most award-winning colorists in the world will take the stage for the biggest color event of the decade!  Balayage, ombre, corrective color, new placement techniques—it's all here! Our presenters include: Beth Minardi, John Simpson, Kim Vo, Gina Khan, The Doves, Jason Backe, Christel Lundqvist (3 Time British Colorist of the Year), Chrystofer Benson, Richy Kandasamy, Ian Michael Black, Farouk Shami, Robb Dubré, Lisa Marie Garcia, Teri Dougherty, David Adams and Jennifer MacDougall will teach techniques you can use behind the chair everyday. PLUS, our special "Color Connection Center" companies will share the latest product technology. Take your color to the next level. Save $100 before July 15! Register Now!